Thursday, 27 January 2011

We have done it and finally ordered our polytunnel the company we went with in the end are first tunnels link here to see what we bought http://www.firsttunnels.co.uk/

The tunnel measures 10 feet wide by 25 feet long and we have upgraded cover to thermal anti fog as it was only an extra £15.00. Ordering was the easy bit now we have to put it up, I think now is the time to start calling in favours although in all fairness James my allotment neighbour has offered to lend a hand. I have wanted the tunnel for some time as not only is it a place you can grow tender crops and extend the season it means with the British weather being the way it is we can still go down and work on our allotment when it is piddling down with rain. The bit I also liked was 5 to 10 days delivery so I am hoping the weather will be kind this coming Monday and Tuesday when I am off work so I can clear area where tunnel is going and prepare. We both have some annual leave the following week so hopefully we will be building the frame then, the cover will not go on though until we have our first warm dry day of the year I am guessing by previous years that will be around April. The reason for this is so the plastic stretches better and you get a tighter fitting cover, I am really excited and can't wait to get going patience is not one of my strong points. I wiil post pictures of the build as soon as we get going until next time goodbye from a very excited allotmenteer.

Monday, 24 January 2011

Lovely day at plot today fire roaring, hot soup on stove and finished building my beds so all in all a good days work at our allotment.

The two pictures above show the 3 beds I have built today to the left, the first 2 are in fitting with the rest of plot and the big one top left is roughly 12' by 7' as I have come up with an idea. The big bed I have decided to add perrenial flowers and rose bushes all in the middle and around the outside where I can reach I am going to put my herbs like rosemary, lavender, sage etc and maybe some rocket which I hope will self seed.
All the beds have been covered to protect them until I use them to stop vital nutrients being washed away.

I was hoping to add more pictures but blogger or my computer does not want to play so thats it for now!

Oh one more thing the polytunnel in the background is something similar to what I want it belongs to my neighbour James who was also at plot today and I got some useful tips on how to put it up when I get some bloody money. Once I purcahse tunnel and erect it the plots will be laid out and all that will remain is to grow lots of lovely fruit, herbs and vegetables unless I think of anything else, umm maybe some chickens?

Friday, 21 January 2011

I have just sown my first seeds of the new year they were all from Wilkinsons and they are as follows pepper hot pato sizzle, sweet mini red, hot cayenne and hot halbenero. I have put them in peat pots in heated propagator underneath velux window in loft(see picture below) which is south facing for maximum light at this time of year.
That got me to thinking I have a face tanning lamp(dont ask I am vain I guess) and was wondering when the seeds germinate I could use that as extra light. The trouble is I dont know if it is the right kind of light if it is bonus, the down side is the local police force may think I am growing something else and kick my door down. I was reading in the paper the other day about a lady who had similar lamp in her garage and used it to keep her hamsters warm during recent cold spell and the police smashed her door off the hinges in a drug raid.

You can just make out lamp to right of picture, anyway I will update you all on progress of peppers and anything else I do. The gardening bug is back and I love it speak to you all soon and please feel free to leave comments and any hints or tips.

Swedes so many lovely and sweet variety invitation from http://www.dobies.co.uk/ They are my favourite seed supplier always have good germination with all seeds.

More winter greens unknown.

The Plot Our allotment.

A lovely day tidying and pottering managed to clear Nan's shed no rats so no need to wipe. Lost quite a few spuds they had gone mushy the rest are now in kitchen in big box with newspaper.

Did not manage to start peppers and chillis off so that is the plan for tomorrow, did go to Waitrose this evening and bought a lovely book by Nigel Slater called tender vloume 2 which is all about growing and cooking fruits.
I want volume one now which is all about vegtables.

Thursday, 20 January 2011

I have to admit I am looking forward to day off tommorow(actually today) so I can go down plot and have a good tidy up and start my planning for 2011. Dreading going in Nan's shed (metal shed I had from Nan's garden when she passed away) as I have stored my spuds in there and when I visited the other day it appears rodents of some description have chewed through hessian and been munching on said spuds. Looking at how much they have munched they must be the size of small dogs by now, I have a phobia of rats for some unknown reason yet I had a pet rat called Roland when I was a teenager!

Another pest problem I have discovered on our allotment are moles they seem to be digging quicker than Steve McQueen in The great escape. Moles were a problem in my old house which is about 1/4 mile from allotment I tried everything I could to get rid of them but to no avail, I guess I will just have to live with them and take advantage of the lovely soil they produce in their mounds.

Jobs for today are as follows clean and tidy plot, rescue spuds from nan's rat infested shed followed by wiping brown residue from underwear, bonfire, washing out seed trays coming home and starting my chillis and peppers in heated propagator.

Not forgetting to take some pictures and post them on here for all to see.

Friday, 14 January 2011

After the coldest December on record we are now experiencing very wet and very mild weather, although we did have snow in Bristol it was relativley light compared to the rest of the country. I visited the plot on Tuesday and harvested some parsnips, celeriac and swede and have made a soup and a beef stew. The garlic I planted at the end of autumn has all sprouted, we are using two types one is what I grew last year and saved and the other is called music from http://www.reallygarlicky.co.uk/

Our big project this year will be to purchase and erect a polytunnel we are looking at getting one 10 feet wide by 25 feet long. The main problem I have at the moment is who to buy it from currently first tunnels are winning on price but premier polytunnels won the award for best tunnel supplier in GYO magazine. The differnce in price between the two suppliers is about £60 so I think I will have to do a little more research before deciding.

I love this time of year deciding what we will be growing this season and what we won't, today I have been browsing through seed catalogues and getting enticed by everything I see. My new year resolution is to keep this blog more up to date so hopefully after I finish my dreaded run of 7 straight night shifts I will go down plot and take some photos of things in ground also I hope to start my first seeds of the year off very soon.

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Welcome to our blog

We are newish to allotment gardening and acquired our plot June 2009, we are at Stapleton allotments Bristol. Our allotment site has a country feel as we are surrounded by small holdings and are on the north east boundary of the city.
This blog is a way of keeping photographic and text information of the things we have done. We hope you find it interesting and welcome any comments and tips you may have.

As our knowledge of growing fruit, vegtables and flowers grows we also hope to become more informative and share our tips with you. Enjoy our blog and happy gardening to one and all.